Hi everyone

I love my EOS 50D and I don't mean to switch to analogue, but I guess a little journey through the film world would help me a lot focusing on the essentials.

I have a used Canon A-1 but it is in pretty bad shape, which is too bad as I love this camera for its looks, its size and the semi-automatic modes available, not to mention the image quality I used to get from it centuries ago.

The main use would be street photography with B/W films, and I'm looking for something well built, small and user friendly with a 50mm f/1.4 lens.

If I was rich, I would go for a Leica M6 or MP but guess what : I'm not. ;)

Should I look for a A-1 in better shape than mine ?

Any advice is wellcome !

Thanx !

Try some of the EOS analogue cameras, like EOS 5 or EOS 3 or EOS1-n, this one more expensive in 2nd hand market. WIth this, you can use same lenses (EF ones) you have from 50D ;-)

I have a EOS 5 and is a nice camera and light, and you can find cheap in ebay .

Thanks a lot Rui

EOS series seems good, but maybe a little sophisticated and confortable for me .. I want to suffer. :)
And the only EF lens I have is a heavy 17-40 f/4 L, the rest is EF-S.
I'm looking for something smaller and vintage.

A friend of mine has a EOS 1-n, I guess I should give it a try .. But still, I really want something small.
Don't say Olga .. :)

I hate holgas ... brrr is a peace of crap, but don´t tell anybody i have said this :))))

H?ad saâid !

Assalamu Aleikum ! ;-)

lol ... And I wrote "Olga", I'm not into that at all. :)

Choukran khoya, Had saîd to you too ! :)

(I'm thinking canon FTb right now)

Eliza gave me a tip - she used to remove the prism head to sometimes make it easier to frame without having to bring the camera up to your eye, so consider getting a camera with a removable prism for street.

Wabi,
If the removable prism is real plus for you and want to stick with 35mm check out the Nikon F3, a wondeful camera.
(assuming you are not looking or Canon mount compatibility)

To really experience the film side of photography I recommend getting back to basics by using an all manual (no auto settings available) . Pentax Spotmatic II's are inexpensive, plentiful and simple to use but please keep in mind that tripping the shutter on a film camera is merely the first step in understanding the process. Continuing down the path by developing the negs, printing and mounting the final image will offer you the chance to truly understand the differences between film and digital.

Andre : Thanks for the tip, I'll add it to my growing wishlist !

Jacques : The F3 sounds great, and so so does the S2 (telemetric) .. ;)

Chuck : You totally get what I'm looking for. I used to do some analogue processing when I was studying architecture, and I really miss the whole darkroom thing. Besides, I'm a sort of cave-lover, I really enjoy getting myself trapped in a closed area where time stops flowing .. :)

Leica M6, Nikon F3 & S2, Pentax Spotmatic ... These are gonna be playing in my mind before I fall asleep. :)

Nikon FM, FM2, FM2n, FE are all great cameras.

Harry is right. One of the FM/FE cameras and a 50 AIS E 1.8 lens or even a 50 1.4 Nikkor. You will spend less than 500 USD if that. Superb optics.

If you want an automatic whiz bang film camera - then don't go past the Nikon F80. Great too.

But part of the fun of film is the slow and meticulous process (which can be as fast as digital once you get more skill) and for that, the bodies that Harry suggests are perfect. So well made - just like a Leica. Little chunks of brass.

Have a long and fun read at this site: http://tinyurl.com/h45dq

RF.

This web site Richard has posted is excellent, every thing you need to know about older nikons!

I have the FM and FE2.... Every thing i needed to know i got from this web site.

Both excellent cameras, compact and light! Just need to get good lenses, the 50 1.4 Nikkor AI is very very good and i have noticed they are not so expensive. They are really fun to use!

28 2.8 AIS. No sharper or distortion free Nikkor has been made yet. Or possibly by others either.

Here we go:

http://tinyurl.com/yb26xu2

And:

http://tinyurl.com/y86bm22

And:

http://tinyurl.com/yfwqwjn

And:

http://tinyurl.com/yh3o5r7

Enjoy!

Nice little kit!!

Hi Wabi !
Street photography maybe to fast for totally manual camera. Canon FTb is a nice piece, I have one, is even converted to modern batteries, but for fast shooting in changing light condition I prefer canon T70. Very good light meter in two modes: average and partial, You won't miss a shot, batteries; just regular AA, well, no manual mode but in "wide" program goes for minimal aperture. I put on it 20mm lens and is a total fun. Info You can get from the same website Richard is recommending. Strait link to it is : http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/t70/index.htm . This set-up should be cheaper then Nikon and 20mm canon ( http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fdlenses/20mm.htm ) is better then Nikkor from the same era. Read this link to : http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/20.htm.
Cheers !

I have never tried total manual - but light doesn't change that quick. Even in Aperture priority mode I realise the light changes and I are changing the aperture before the light meter is telling me that the shutter speed will be low.... street photography is not about random rushing to get a random fast paced moment. The idea is to be able to predict and foresee events a few seconds out...

You are right, Richard. Predicting and foreseeing is a key. But speed and stealthiness also. Camera risen for longer then two seconds will be noticed. My idea about street photography is about being right there, few feet away. For that, in my privet experience, aperture priority maybe not the best. It is easier to worry about DoF then shaky hands. But then again my experience is limited to situations, when a photographer is a part of the action.

I agree on the zone focusing for DOF management in street. However once you have an aperture set to get the DOF you want - the shutter speed can be set to match... if not - then use aperture priority... AF is useless though in IMHO.

You have AE1, so you probably have some lenses for it. I would look for a Canon F1 or F1n. You get the removable viewfinder and a virtually undestroyable workhorse of a camera. And you have most of the shutter times available even if your battery runs out. I've had a few of them, still have one, and a few lenses.
They are not the smallest, but possibly some of the most reliable cameras built

F1 and F1n work at all shutter speeds without batteries? And they have AE as well?

I thought only the FM3a had such a hybrid mechanical and electro shutter? If so - then yeah - good choice!

if you want to suffer go for a zorki 1, same same as a leica m2 but different!

There are some good deals now on medium format folders on ebay... they are fun also. No light meter and some don't even have range finders and if they do (like mine) they are not coupled....

yes, i have a voigtländer bessa 6x6, works great.

Does that have a range finder in it? And do you get parallax errors? I mean bad ones? I get them are long ranges when trying to do architectural style shots with exact alignment.

I started a thread here on that topic:

http://1x.com/v2/#discussions/17195/view-finders-for-35-mm-with-120-format/

i'm not sure what you mean, it has just a little window to look through:

http://www.deutsches-kamera-museum.de/0-fotokameras/voigtlaender/rollfilm/bessa66.jpg

i mean it has no range finder, one has to estimate the distance.... no good idea to drink some beer before going to take pictures.

Yes - but is what you see in the view finder not the same as what comes out on the film?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax

Skip to the photography section down the page....

dont know how accurate it is, there are two windows you are looking through, depends on how close your eye is to the window....
but i think its pretty accurate with the voigtländer.

No. It works from 1/30 or 1/60 down to 1/2000s for the F1n if I don't remember wrong. The AE needs batteries, and depend on an AE viewfinder. There is a manual viewfinder with metering too, and a fantastic sports viewfinder. With the AE viewfinder you get Aperture priority, if you want shutter priority you need the motordrive. Then we don't talk nice and handy anymore..

Gentlemen ! Wabi asked for low cost set-up. You are fretting about the bodies, but the lens is even more important and it is here, where he should spend the money. Canon FTb will do ($25), but put on it the best glass, you can afford (50/1.4 - $130 in Toronto, 20/2.8 - $250).

A friend of mine loves his Canon Canonet. A cheap rangefinder camera with a fixed fast lens. There are several versions of this camera. Some have reached the collector's status and are too expensive. My friend payed 25 euro's for his Canonet and he keeps telling me he payed too much but not enough to come close to what it is capable of.

That's right Paul. Canonet is collector item. But what I can see in my place it does not go above $100 mark. It is a valid option.

Well look for an OM1 + 50 1.8 ......?